Back in 2017, I wrote an “Obscure Object of Desire” piece for TTAG about the AA-12 shotgun. Check it out here.
Fast forward to the 2019 SHOT Show Industry Day at the Range, and I had one of my dreams come true: I got to shoot one of these full-auto bad boys!
The entire AA-12 concept – from design to production – has been acquired by Sol Invictus Arms from BC Engineering, who had been shopping it around since 2016. They moved all of the tooling, etc from Tennessee to Florida and jumped headlong into bringing the fabled design to market.
Featured in more than a dozen video games and countless TV shows and movies, the AA-12 is a gun that’s hard to forget once you’ve seen it. Slightly peculiar in design, the original AA-12 from 1987 was a full-auto offering. While that concept has been retained, Sol Invictus Arms has also developed a semi-auto version.
The full-auto model at Industry Day at the Range was a beast. Loaded with 20 rounds in the drum mag, the gun ate up the 12 gauge shells in short order, firing from an open bolt and spraying the empty shells all around those watching.
Despite the gun’s size, it’s very easy to handle. Doing a full mag dump was no problem.
The AA-12 is no longer that obscure, and is projected to cost less than 25% of what the “newer” production guns from the early 2000s were costing, making it much more desirable.
Check out the video of yours truly putting the AA-12 through its paces at SHOT Show:
Logan Metesh is a firearms historian and consultant who runs High Caliber History LLC. Click here for a free 3-page download with tips about caring for your antique and collectible firearms.